Intellectual property law is good. Excess in intellectual property law is not. This blog is about excess in Canadian and international copyright law, trademarks law and patent law. I practice IP law with Macera & Jarzyna, LLP in Ottawa, Canada. I've also been in government and academe. My views are purely personal and don't necessarily reflect those of my firm or any of its clients. Nothing on this blog should be taken as legal advice.

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Bill C-11 to Implement Marrakesh Treaty for the Blind to be Studied by CDN Senate Banking, Trade & Commerce Committee

Here’s a very good example of how the
Canadian Senate can potentially do what it was meant to do, which is to provide
sober, second thought and experienced insight into Government legislation. The
Senate is hopefully going to have a good look at Bill C-11, a bill to implement
the Marrakesh Treaty for the Blind. I raised some serious concerns at the "commercially available" exception to the exception and the possibility of collective and Copyright Board involvement the other day here.

Honourable
senators, I did raise a concern earlier regarding the rushed passage of this
bill in the other place and how we should give Bill C-11 our full attention and
study. Although I wholeheartedly support this bill, I have been made aware of two concerns from
members of the public who are better informed of copyright laws than I am. The
first is the limitation of commercially available products in clause 1. It is
permissible under the treaty, but it is not necessary and may result in a
stricter, more prohibitive regime in Canada than elsewhere.

The second concern raised, honourable
senators, is the imposition of royalties for those non-profit organizations
that take advantage of the exceptions from the copyright laws that the bill
intends to allow for. The royalty would be in accordance with regulations set
by the Governor-in-Council pursuant to section 32.01(7) of the Copyright Act.
This seems to impose a financial disincentive on organizations like the CNIB to
fully take advantage of the new law. It also provides a disincentive to
publishers and copyright holders in making materials for those who are visually
impaired readily available for commercial purposes.

Honourable
senators, this being Canada's upper house, where we are expected to take a
closer look at legislative proposals, I strongly encourage the committee to
which the bill will be referred to allow for the stringent review that
Canadians expect us to undertake and to fully investigate the effects of the
bill by inviting the relevant witnesses to appear to share these concerns with
the committee's members.

(highlight added)

I’m confident that this Bill will get the
care it needs to make it even better in this Committee, which includes Senator Joseph
Day, who was an IP lawyer back in the day before he was appointed.

I shall update on this and readers may want
to make their views known to the Senate Committee and volunteer to appear as
witnesses in due course.